Practice Takes Practice

Jaymee Haefner is Assistant Professor of Harp at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the college. She currently serves as Treasurer for the World Harp Congress and as National Harp Association Liaison for the World Harp Congress Review. Haefner is also a first-degree black belt in American Karate.

Find all the time you need to practice.

What if I told you that you could double your practice efficiency overnight without adding hours to your practice? Does this sound like a too-good-to-be-true infomercial? That anxious feeling of just needing a couple more days to polish a harp part is something that has haunted every harpist at some point. Believe it or not, there is a solution to that perpetual feeling of “needing more time,” and it is hiding within the organization of your practice routine itself. Whether your routine is one hour or six hours at the harp, that time can be adjusted proportionally so the pieces move through your practice schedule based on their stage of learning rather than their urgency in your concert calendar.
By ranking your current harp-related projects, you can see which ones should demand the bulk of your practice time.

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About Author

Jaymee Haefner’s performances have been described by Daniel Buckley as possessing “an air of dreamy lyricism… interlocking melody lines with the deftness of a dancer’s footwork.” Jaymee joined the
University of North Texas (UNT) faculty in 2006 and was appointed as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the College of Music in 2010. Recently featured at the 50th Anniversary American Harp Society (AHS) National Conference in New York City, and the 2014 AHS National Conference in New Orleans, she has also performed throughout the Dallas‐Fort Worth area, in Mexico, the Czech Republic and Russia. Her recordings include features with the Bloomington Pops Orchestra, baritone Daniel Narducci and Alfredo Rolando Ortiz. She published a biography entitled The Legend of Henriette Renié and presented lectures at the 2014 World Harp Congress (WHC) in Sydney, the 2008 WHC in Amsterdam and the 2009 AHS Institute in Salt Lake City. Jaymee was Chairman of the 2011 AHS Institute and was recently appointed as the Treasurer for the World Harp Congress, she also and serves as the National Harp Associations Liaison for the WHC Review publication. Jaymee’s current projects include a “Better than One” duo with harpist Emily Mitchell and her “Crimson” duo with violinist Matt Milewski. Both ensembles are currently preparing CD recordings. When she isn’t practicing the harp, Jaymee trains in karate and is a first-degree black belt. She obtained her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Arizona and her Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University.

3 Comments

Thank you. I so needed to hear (read) this. I always seem to jump from one fire to the next and never feel that I have accomplished anything. I have always felt that there might be a preferred order to my practice but I don’t know enough to know. I am going to try this to see if it will help me. Maybe a dry-erase board in my harp room to help keep my focus. Once again, thank you Jaymee. Joan

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